Trump to get intelligence briefings despite classified documents criminal trial

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

March 7, 2024, 9:51 PM EST


U.S. intelligence agencies plan to provide briefings to former President Donald Trump this year if he secures the Republican presidential nomination, even though he faces federal criminal charges that he mishandled classified information after he left office.

The intelligence community is likely to adhere to past practices for nominees and has no plan to cancel the briefings if Trump becomes the GOP nominee, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Scrapping the briefings for Trump could open President Joe Biden up to accusations of politicizing access to intelligence, one of the sources said.

Launched by President Harry Truman in 1952, intelligence briefings for presidential nominees are designed to ensure a smooth transition of power and to prepare a prospective commander in chief for office. The briefings are not required by law.

But Trump’s candidacy poses an unprecedented circumstance for intelligence officials due to his track record. During his time in the White House, Trump was accused of revealing secret information, and he was indicted on federal criminal charges for allegedly retaining a trove of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left office.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-get-intelligence-briefings-classified-documents-criminal-trial-rcna142385

[BootinUp]

1. There is time to change the administrations mind

If there was overwhelming public support.

[William Seger]

2. I think they should feed him fake intel to see if it ends up in Russia

[mitch96]

8. Yup, a plan fer sure...Just give him the minimum and nothing relating to putin and his thugs.

then just drop in a bit and as you say see if there is ruzzia/iran/china/Nkorea chatter about it...m

[Aviation Pro]

3. Here's the content of the briefing to Motherfucker

"Shit happening around the world, most of it caused by you.

No questions."

[BumRushDaShow]

4. DUzy!

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. Hopefully they will only give Trump **slightly** altered intelligence briefings...

[thesquanderer]

6. They need to provide the briefings only in writing, in documents that cannot leave the room.

He has little capacity to read/understand/remember information presented that way.

[SouthernDem4ever]

7. There is no precedence for this - don't give him anything.

Trump should get nothing. If this country is stupid as shit enough to put that worthless orange blob back in office, they can give to him then which he'll just use as toilet paper after he tells Putin everything.

[sanatanadharma]

9. 70 years of smooth transfer of power, except for Trump

"Launched by President Harry Truman in 1952, intelligence briefings for presidential nominees are designed to ensure a smooth transition of power .... The briefings are not required by law."

[onetexan]

22. Yup. Biden should bar the Con on the basis he's a danger to national security

[LiberalFighter]

10. It needs to be limited and not until after the Republican convention.

[niyad]

30. The briefings, IF they occur, do not begin until after the convention.

TRAITOR** did NOT brief Biden.

[Karadeniz]

11. Just flat stupid! No one who stole classified documents and lied about it should

have access to secret information. White House needs to change its mind and have a big announcement about it and why.

[Oopsie Daisy]

12. He won't understand what he's being shown. PLEASE... NO EFFORT TO DUMB-DOWN THE BRIEFINGS!!!

No effort should be made to convert them into simplistic bullet points or "slide-show" powerpoint pages with clip-art!

[Captain Zero]

15. Give him 55 page single spaced reports

Then give him 60 minutes alone with them. And he has to turn them back in.

He can't begin to comprehend what is is in them, no way.

[onetexan]

23. Give him a slide prezo full of political cartoons...of him the buffoon

[Novara]

13. Oh for fuck's sake.

It's like giving a bank robber free access to every bank's vault, no questions asked.

[Bayard]

14. As Commander In Chief, couldn't the President nix this?

Actually, I think he already did at one point.

trump doesn't read the documents, he just sells them. Don't help him make money for his court cases. This crap of keeping a, "tradition," is just crap when there is zero law about it, especially when its against the public interest.

[Oopsie Daisy]

16. I agree! This is just a courtesy, right? Isn't not a law, is it?

[FBaggins]

20. Yes and no

It isn't exactly a "courtesy" - it's part of the mechanism of the peaceful/orderly transfer of power.

And if you want to sell the voting public on your opponent trying to game that transfer of power... it's probably a good idea not to do anything that seems similar yourself.

[Oopsie Daisy]

24. Let him actually win first. No "early peeking" ... that's what his own "transition team" is for *

* and they'll certainly be able to handle everything for him *IF* he wins. Until then, I feel like he should get nothing. That's not "gaming the transfer of power".

[FBaggins]

28. That isn't nearly enough time

As evidenced by the fact that we’ve done it this way for a very long time.

There are also significant foreign policy implications that are not areas where the candidates differ but on which we need a unified front (as other countries try to figure out whether the next president might deal with them differently)

It far from just “have enough time to get up to speed).

[Oopsie Daisy]

31. Sure it is.

>> As evidenced by the fact that we’ve done it this way for a very long time.
Well, "we've always done it this way" is certainly a winning argument and justification, I guess.

With regard to the other foreign policy implications, I think that it's a matter of which is the least risky. And NOT giving him info until he's clearly won an election is the best option. Not perfect, but the better of the two.

He cannot be trusted. I'd be willing to wait.

[FBaggins]

33. Not "we've always done it this way"

The argument is that the reason we do it this way is the same. Every president has a reason to not want to imply by action that the wrong candidate might win… but it tells the world about the stability of our system - something TFG’s actions harmed.

It isn’t about trusting him. We can make decisions about specific content that might be dangerous for him to have (likely very limited)… but the overwhelming majority of these briefings are not

[Oopsie Daisy]

34. The reputational damage is already done. No use in pretending otherwise.

It's foolish to give him information that he could sell to the highest bidder, or blurt out to intentionally harm Biden or our nation (upon his loss). He cannot be trusted, it makes no sense to carry on the tradition for appearance's sake when everyone knows the truth anyway, and everyone with a brain would understand why exceptions must be made that deviate from tradition.

[ScratchCat]

17. As I posted yesterday

It would be unlawful to share classified information with an individual who is under criminal indictment - for any crime let alone stealing military documents.

Scrapping the briefings for Trump could open President Joe Biden up to accusations of politicizing access to intelligence, one of the sources said.

The Trump administration refused these to Biden. Are writers just making shit up as they go along? No "Biden source" said that. That's something the Trump crowd would invent.

I'll say it again: If this is true, I am done with this administration.

[C Moon]

18. He'll scream some of it out on the campaign trail: "Did you know that the U.S. is currently..."

[SleeplessinSoCal]

19. This is a huge mistake, IMHO

They say they want norms adhereded to. Why do they think that? This is an opportunity to remind the electorate that the thug kept national secrets and we only got them back via the FBI rummaging through his bathroom. Is it because Biden also had what he shouldn't have had? BS!!!

Big mistake.

[Turbineguy]

21. Give him chicken feed.

[Prairie_Seagull]

25. National security should trump lol best practices.

If it must take place, limit duration and scope and add poison pill. IMO

[PJMcK]

26. I don't think this is worrisome

Trump is an idiot with the attention span of a fruit fly. His memory can probably be measure in kilobytes. During his term, the briefings were geared towards a third-grader because Trump is so stupid.

He won’t be given anything of real importance.

Here’s one idea to limit any potential damage. For any briefings, only Trump may be present, he cannot take any documents out of the meeting and he cannot take notes, (as if,).

[choie]

27. This is really an outrage.

How do you want to adhere to norms when this situation and “nominee” is NOT NORMAL!

When the hell is this government going to truly understand the danger trump poses?? fuck the “norms”

[Sailingdiver]

29. They've already proven how incredibly dense they are . . .

While I'm not concerned the idiot would actually read the briefings I am significantly concerned he may trade for bond money. But, his cult has already proven how obtuse they are, remember this? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/18/republican-voters-bomb-agrabah-disney-aladdin-donald-trump

[Iwasthere]

32. STOP PLAYING NICE!!! This decision should be changed.

[sakabatou]

35. He'd keep mishandling the documents

[Mz Pip]

36. President has total immunity

at least according to the GQP.

So Biden should just refuse to let Trump near any briefings.

[C_U_L8R]

37. Perhaps a Barium Meal Test is on the menu.

Give Trump some fake intelligence and track where it goes.